Adapted From the queen herself- Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Boeuf Bourguignon Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb Pancetta (or bacon) – cut into ½ inch lardons
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 lbs lean stewing beef or chuck steak (cut into 2″ chunks)
- 1 carrot (cut on the diagonal into ½″ thick at the widest part)
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 3 cups red wine:
*For the red wine, leverage a full-bodied, young red wine, such as Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône, Bordeaux-St. Émilion, or Burgundy. It is important to use a decent wine. Shit wine will create a shit stew* - 2 – 3 cups beef stock (homemade will make you a pro – otherwise grocery version works fine)
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste *did you know in france they sell this by massive cans!?
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
Oignons Glacés à Brun: Brown-braised onions
- 12 white pearl onions
- 1 1/2 Tbsp (european if fancy) butter
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup beef stock or beef broth
- Salt and pepper
Champignons Sautés au Beurre: Sautéed Mushrooms
- 1 pound mushrooms, cleaned & quartered
- 4 Tbsp butter (european if you fancy)
- Salt and pepper
I have made this recipe at least 15X by now. Hopefully I don’t fuck up instructions but if so please feel free to cross reference steps with Julia Child’s extremely well written Beef Bourguignon recipe. Better yet do yourself and your soul filled with a lifetime of good eating a favor – please just go buy her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Best investment you can make and to this day still my favorite cookbook for successful delicious dinners. PS this adaptation may have some foul language, I am not as classy as Queen Julia. (Also I make no commission off this link or any other in this post because I haven’t figured out that method yet – so for now you’re welcome for the bomb advice)
How I cook the Bitch:
Have you ever had that moment when part way through cooking dinner you come to the direction that goes something like “now quickly perform this incredibly challenging gymnastics routine with your pan in under .32 seconds. Fail and you’ll ruin the entire dish and your friends/family/bf/gf/pupper will deem you unfit for a kitchen…” only to realize the key ingredient it needs is likely somewhere on the 3rd or 4th shelf of the fridge, and still needs to be washed, chopped, blessed, and cradled before use? Cool cool, same.
- Beef Mandatory Move:
- Cut the meat into 2 inch cubes & salt the night before cooking or at least 6 hours in advance
You can ask why and I will simply point you to other websites, or you can google it yourself as to why/when/how much to salt certain cuts of meats in the time it took you to ask me this in the comments section. Another option is to pour a nice heavy glass of red wine (suggest a Syrah) and enjoy Salt Fat Acid Heat on Netflix with Samin Nosrat… or even better buy her book! She does an INCREDIBLE job explaining the why’s & how’s of salting everything from meats to veggies to your bathtub (for the pasta).
- Preheat oven to 350*
- Simmer Lardons on stovetop in 4-5 cups of water for 10minutes then drain water & set lardons aside.
- While simmering begin prepping all of the details for the stew itself. As you get more confident with this dish or cooking in general you can prep as you go on certain tasks however for now were playing it safe vs sorry. The onions & mushrooms can hang out until later though.
- Mis en place (get your shit organized, measured & ready) the oils, butter, veggies, stocks, herbs & spices. Take meat out of fridge at least an hour before cooking so it comes to room temperature
- I suggest using a ceramic glazed dutch oven (4.5qt+) for making this stew.
I know know… “it’s on my wedding registry!” “I don’t have a ring yet” “Can I use a pasta pot?” “bitch you kidding me, I can barely afford the ingredients for this dish let alone a dutch oven”
I’ve been there, am there, and may never have that wedding registry to fulfill all my cooking tool desires. Cooking however is my passion. I have learned to take myself out on dates, buy myself flowers, and invest in quality tools that I will use for life.
If cooking isn’t your thing – see if you can borrow some nice tools from friends/family, then invite them over to share the meal! Or just call your favorite Chinese food place and skip this dish altogether. PS I’m no mathematician but about 5-6 nights of Chinese delivery will likely have paid for this dutch oven
Other pro tip: TJMaxx. $125 for a 7 ½ qrt for a ceramic glazed Le Cruset. Original price over $500. Where there is a will there is a way people!
I am willing to invest more in cooking than man hunting or waiting for a guy to lock my ass down. Slash these tools call me back and feed me when I’m sad unlike prospects who can’t commit… Hence my overflowing inventory of bomb ass cooking tools! Invest once in the right tools so you don’t have to buy a new (name it here) every year when it blows out after only a few uses. Happy knife happy life!
- So now use your ceramic glazed dutch oven (or chopsticks) and add oil & pre-simmered lardons over medium high heat. Let cook for 3 minutes until fat renders and it just begins to very lightly brown. Remove from pan.
- Make sure you pat dry the chunks of meat that have been coming to room temperature for the past hour. If they are not dry they will steam instead of brown. Also don’t overcrowd them in the pan. If you need to do this in stages where you have at least 1-2 inches between chunks as they brown. Once lardons have been removed, set the meat in the pan and DON’T TOUCH. Let them get to work on making that beautiful brown bottom. You will know when it is ready to flip when you lightly pull up and it easily lifts from the pan. If they are not easy to gently lift they are not done browning yet. Continue so you get a nice sear on multiple sides.
- When finished set the meat chunks aside. Now add carrots & onions (and heavy pinch of salt because you are a pro after reading why in SFAH) to sauté in fat from the meat until browned for about 3 minutes.
- Once browned add back the beautifully browned meat chunks, along with a ½ tspn salt, ¼ tsp pepper, and the 2 Tbsps of flour. Toss to coat everything as best you can & put in oven for 4 minutes. Remove for a quick stir and put back in for an additional 4 minutes
- Remove from oven and drop temperature down to 325*.
- Add the wine and stock to the pot so that the liquid barely covers the meat and vegetables. Then add the tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves
- Bring to a light simmer on the stove, then cover and simmer in the lower part of the oven for 3 to 4 hours, or until the meat is easily pierced.
Wine Break
Best step ever for this dish: pour your ass a big glass of wine. Slow cooking means more time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. à votre santé !
- PS keep adjusting the temperature so that the liquid simmers very slowly for three to four hours. I have fucked up coming back to check and seeing the dish has been at a hard boil for an hour even though I followed all the directions. Check on it for the first 30 minutes pretty often just to make sure its a low and slow gentle simmer.
- In the last hour of cooking prep the mushroom & onion dishes – mis en place
- In a frying pan add 1 1/2 Tbsps butter and 2 tspns oil to a medium heat in a sauté pan. Add the pearl onions and toss constantly until browned for about 10 minutes. Once browned add 1/2 cup beef stock, a small pinch of salt and pepper and the herb bouquet to the pan. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the onions for about 40 minutes, until the liquid has evaporated, and the onions are tender
- In separate pan heat butter & oil in large flat pan, adding the mushrooms once the butter stops sputtering. Cook and toss the mushrooms for about 5 minutes until they are lightly browned and set aside with the onions.
- Remove dutch oven and take a deep breath because that shit is going to smell GOOOOD
- Few ways to skin a cat, but end goal is to have the meat in one pot or plate, and the sauce from the dish in another. You will also remove carrots, Onions, and herbs as those won’t be eaten.
- Once you have sauce in a pan, look at consistency – if too watery that’s ok we can cook it down for more time until it’s the right consistency to coat the back of a spoon. Too thick and we can always add stock back in.
- Also PLEASE check flavor. It should be rich and delicious however if it lacks flavor cook it down further. The sauce will become richer and more concentrated as it cooks. It also likely needs a bit more salt (try adding a small bit to your spoonful and see how that helps or hurts the taste)
- Once proper consistency & flavor add the onions and mushrooms to the beef to a plate. Pour the sauce over the lovely plate of meat, onions, & mushrooms. (or just put them all in that savory bath of sauce and serve from the pot)
- Bon Appetit!
Excellent sides for this dish include egg noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes. Finish with fresh chopped parsley. And wine in your glass… plenty of it. Wine suggestions for this dish are the same as those recommended for the recipe.
Especially because you listened to me and didn’t buy crap wine for cooking… look at you go!